Rafael Nadal slammed changes being mulled by tennis governing bodies to shorten matches and make them more TV-friendly, saying yesterday that the move goes against the sport's "values"
Rafael Nadal attends a press conference on day two of the China Open yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal attends a press conference on day two of the China Open yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Beijing: Rafael Nadal slammed changes being mulled by tennis governing bodies to shorten matches and make them more TV-friendly, saying yesterday that the move goes against the sport's "values".
"The kind of matches that stay on (in) the memory and on the history of our sport are a little bit long and dramatic matches that become emotional," Nadal told reporters in Beijing.
Women's tennis boss Steve Simon said last week the WTA was considering introducing super tie-breakers and no-ad scoring for singles matches. The potential changes mirror the still-controversial rule shift made to non-Grand Slam doubles—on the men's and women's circuits—a decade ago. The new format would create shorter matches that are more predictable in length, making them easier for broadcasters to accommodate.
"If you want to change the values of the sport, maybe yes," the 30-year-old Spaniard said. "Tennis has values that we need to follow, in my opinion." he added.
Simon said the shift was necessary to accommodate the shortening attention span of audiences—another point the former world number one took umbrage with. Nadal said. "You need to put everything together to create a great show, to create a show (so) that the people emotionally feel involved in the match," he said.
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